fax

Etymology 1

From Middle English fax, from Old English feax (“hair, head of hair”), from Proto-West Germanic *fahs, from Proto-Germanic *fahsą (“hair, mane”), from Proto-Indo-European *poḱsom (“hair”, literally “that which is combed, shorn, or plucked”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear, pluck”). Cognate with Dutch vas (“headhair”), German Fachs (“head-hair”), Norwegian faks (“mane”), Icelandic fax (“mane”), Sanskrit पक्ष्मन् (pákṣman, “eyelash, hair, filament”).

noun

1. (obsolete or UK dialectal) The hair of the head.

Etymology 2

Clipping of facsimile, first attested 1979.

noun

1. Ellipsis of fax machine.
2. A document sent, or received and printed by a fax machine.

verb

1. To send a document via a fax machine.
   Hands trembling with excitement and impatience, I faxxed my credit history to Jerry Raskin, the real estate agent listed, and received an appointment to view the place. 1990, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, volume 14, page 82
   Plaintiff contented that in a game show in London, England, in January of 1988, Mr. Steinberg entered into an oral agreement with Atari representatives to become the exclusive distributor of Atari Games’ products; that the proposed agreement was dictated at this meeting; and that within two days Mr. Steinberg sent defendant a faxxed confirmation of this oral arrangement reached at the London trade show. 1991, Jury Verdicts Weekly, volume 35, page 10
   SENATOR BAUCUS, IT IS THE THIRD STATEMENT, YOUR CHALLENGE, THAT HAS LED TO THE MOST FRUSTRATION FOR THE PEOPLE I AM REPRESENTING TODAY. WE TOOK YOU AT YOUR WORD AND HAVE RALLIED AND CONVOYED TO MAKE YOU AWARE OF US, TELEPHONED, WRITTEN LETTERS, FAXXED YOU, AND SPOKE WITH YOU PERSONALLY TO LET YOU KNOW HOW WE FEEL. 1992, Montana National Forest Management Act of 1991: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session on S. 1696; October 22, 1991, Washington: United States Government Publishing Office, pages 140–141
   A few of the corporations involved have frankly acknowledged the roadblock: their own fear of the POW/MIA movement. Some companies scheduled for a trade mission to Vietnam dropped out after receiving a faxxed message from the National P.O.W. Strike Force summed up by its leader: “We will go out of our way to destroy your company because you want to do business with filthy Communists who are holding American prisoners.” 1993, H. Bruce Franklin, M.I.A., or, Mythmaking in America, revised and expanded paperback edition, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, page 194
   Thanks to Franz Amador and Tony Barrett for helpful discussions. We gratefully acknowledge Oren Etzioni’s emergency faxxing service. This research was funded in part by National Science Foundation Grant IRI-8957302, Office of Naval Research Grant 90-J-1904, and a grant from the Xerox corporation. 1993, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Proceedings of the Eleventh National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, page 737, column 1
   His logistic: to dress in the skin of the worker, / the technician, the programmer, / infiltrating himself in their milieu, / their offices, their plants, & their boards, / a bug in their systems, / crossing up the controls and the panels, / the wiring, the wave lengths, / the faxxing of messages, the spy-satellites / & their receptors, / changing their conceptions, their charts. 1994, Olga Elena Mattei, “Part One: Poetry [§] The Angel of the Millennium (Accident at the Nuclear Plant)”, in Roberta Fernández, editor, In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States, Houston, Texas: Arte Público Press, page 139
   He already has the copy of the other fingerprints that Leo faxxed to him for comparison. 1995, Lucha Corpi, Cactus Blood: A Mystery Novel, Houston, Texas: Arte Público Press, page 151
   On May 12, 1995, Julie Hirshen (GAO) faxxed a draft portion of the GAO Cooperative Threat Reduction report dealing with MPCA. 17 May 1995, Ken Luongo, “Comments on GAO Report on CTR Program Concerning MPCA (note to Ken Sanders)”, in Weapons of Mass Destruction: Reducing the Threat From the Former Soviet Union: An Update (United States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters), published June 1995, “Background”, page 76
   [162] / Faxxing from Israel / 03-695-0132 / [163] / Calling from abroad / 972-3-695-6868 / Faxxing from abroad / 972-3-695-0132 1996, Middle East Peace Process: Hearing Before the Committee on International Relations House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session; September 20, 1995, Washington: United States Government Publishing Office, page 25
   Please advise how one faxxes from the Pilot Pro. Faxxing would greatly enhance my use of the Pilot. / Thanks! 18 May 1997, Mike Story, “Confirmed....Pilot Modem Has FAX capability!!”, in alt.comp.sys.palmtops.pilot (Usenet)
   Please have Georgia Dixon of Sen Craig’s office have a current copy of the Canadian Endangered Species list faxxed to her from Ottawa, Canada. 1999, Appendix E: Response to Public Comments: Final Environmental Impact Statement For Open Road and Open Motorized Trail Analysis (Motorized Road and Trail Travel Plan)

Etymology 3

noun

1. (informal) Nonstandard form of facts.

intj

1. (informal) Alternative form of facts (“used to express agreement”).